1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a personal vehicle loading and unloading apparatus and method. Using the apparatus and method of this invention, personal vehicles such as a personal watercraft such as, for example, a Jet Ski.RTM., a motorcycle, an ATV, a snowmobile, etc. are easily loaded and unloaded to a platform, such as a dock, the bed of a pick-up truck, trailer, or other transport
2. Background Discussion
Personal watercraft, which are small water vehicles that typically carry one to three people, are very popular. These watercraft are sometimes carried to lakes, rivers, and oceans using pick-up trucks. A number of devices have been suggested for facilitating loading and unloading the watercraft into the bed of the pick-up truck, but these have suffered from disadvantages such as (1) being difficult or inconvenient to mount onto the bed of the pick-up trucks, (2) damaging or injuring the exposed surfaces of the personal watercraft; (3) when loaded on the truck, carrying the watercraft a substantial distance above the floor of the bed to elevate the center of gravity of the combination of the truck and watercraft, making it more easy for the truck to tip over; and (4) being complex, and thus expensive, employing many moving parts and sometimes hydraulic equipment. In addition to personal watercraft, other personal vehicles such as motorcycles, ATV's, snowmobiles, etc. are often transported to the location where they are to be used or need to be unloaded and unloaded from a raised platform. It would be advantageous to provide an apparatus that was adapted to load and unload all these different types of personal vehicles.